Visiting Tropicana Field – 5 Tips For Newbies

Tropicana Field

If you’re visiting Tropicana Field for the first time, there are a few things you should probably know. The Trop is one of the more wallet-friendly venues in baseball and won’t break your bank, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few ways to save on a trip to the game.

Stay to the right!!!

Visiting Tropicana Field, Tip #1: Check the secondary market. The Rays are the lowest drawing team in baseball, so with the exception of a few high demand games like Opening Day and weekend Yankees games, you can almost always score a great deal on secondary outlets like SeatGeek. If all you care about is getting in, though, you can buy the cheaper seats at the box office.

You can spread out a bit here.

Visiting Tropicana Field, Tip #2: Buy the cheap seats. As stated, the Rays don’t draw big crowds, so you can almost always move to a better seat if you don’t get greedy. The upper level especially is almost universally the same price for seats, so no one is likely to care if you move a few rows down and closer to home. In the lower levels the ushers are more likely to give you a hard time, but you could probably find a decent place to sit.

Everyone chip in here.

Visiting Tropicana Field, Tip #3: Carpool to the game. The Rays offer free parking to cars with four or more people riding in them; it’s offered to the first 100 cars for Sunday games and most every car for other games. When was the last time you parked for free in a team’s parking lot? On top of that, tailgating is allowed in most lots, so you can have your buddies bring some grub since you took care of the parking.

“Cuban?” “No, Dutch Irish.”

Visiting Tropicana Field, Tip #4: Try the Mac Bat or a Cuban sandwich. The Mac Bat is probably something you’ve never seen before; it’s a breaded cone shaped like a baseball bat (obviously) full of mac and cheese, which is then topped with chili, layers of bacon and jalapenos. Yes sir.

But there’s also the classic Cuban sandwich, which is as good a go-to items here as any…ham and gooey Swiss cheese on pressed bread. There are other cool food stuffs too, but the Mac Bat and Cuban are best for first time visitors.

And when Ferg talks, people listen.

Visiting Tropicana Field, Tip #5: Post-game at Ferg’s. Ferg’s is more or less the only tavern within walking distance of the Trop…it’s right across the street in fact, and you can park there fairly cheaply if you don’t have enough folks in your car for free parking. Ferg’s has decent wings and other food, inexpensive drinks (at least compared to inside the Trop), and it’s an indoor/outdoor bar with a great atmosphere. Most Rays fans always make Ferg’s part of the game day experience.

There you go; five things to know about the Trop. The Rays are happy to get people into the ballpark, so they offer lots of deals on tickets and parking. All you need to worry about is what you’re spending your food dollar on.

Here is my best Tropicana Field seating tip: Don’t pay more than you have to.

OK, let me start this by saying I don’t necessarily condone moving into a seat that you didn’t pay for. It really isn’t fair to people who did pay for those seats, especially when they are the premium seats that cost a second mortgage.

However, I don’t recall ever minding someone keeping a good seat warm that belonged to me, so long as they get out of it immediately and didn’t break wind too much.

My philosophy on moving to a better seat is this: it’s okay so long as you don’t get greedy. If there’s 10,000 people in the ballpark, and you move from a seat that’s in the upper level in the outfield to an upper level seat behind home plate, that’s not going to bother me.

If I paid for the Legends seats at Yankee Stadium and someone who bought a bleacher seat distracts an usher enough to sit next to me, I might not be too happy about that. And there are some premium spots on the Tropicana Field seating chart.

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Anyway, to my point. The Rays average about 15,000 a night for most games. When the ballpark is barely half full on a good night, and if I wasn’t planning to sit in a premium seat, I would just get the cheapest ticket in the ballpark (which, at present, is for the tbt* Party Deck in left field) and move somewhere behind home plate out of everyone’s way.

In my last trip to the Trop my seat was behind home plate anyway, and it wasn’t too expensive. But the three of us moved around and checked the ballpark out from different perspectives (all part of the job) with no problem whatsoever. By the end of the Tampa Bay loss we were sitting in seats that probably cost three times what I paid.

My guess is that by the second or third inning, you can improve your lie to a much better seat, so long as you’re not trying to get the field level seats in the infield. Just be ready to move if the nice usher asks you to.

But hey, you can still find a great deal on Tropicana Field seating, especially if you consult this handy little guide.

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Tropicana Field doesn’t have a lot of retro classic ballpark feel going for it, which is what makes the Tropicana Field Party Deck special. Sorry, forgot the sponsor, the GTE Financial Party Deck.

Just a few rows to get to the all-important private concourse!

The Rays, like most teams in baseball, have to offer special enticements to get people to sit in the worst seats in the venue. In this case those seats are in Party Deck, formerly known as the Beach.

These seats are in the highest level in left field; imagine the view from the Green Monster seats at Fenway without the prestigious experience (or the prestigious cost!). Not to mention that they’re bench seats, great for touching cheeks with your neighbor.

So what’s the advantage of the Party Deck? Well, they cost the same as the upper reserved tickets and are as such the cheapest seats in Tropicana Field. And being separate from the rest of the ballpark, chances are you won’t have to wait in line for your Cuban sandwich, always a plus.

The Trop has colorful concourses.

But it’s a very different atmosphere…the concourse area behind the Party Deck is designed like Ybor City, with bright colors, gas lamp style lights and concession stands like the Ybor Cantina selling Cuban sandwiches. The bench seats give the area a bleachers feel, as if you were channeling your inner Wrigley Bleacher Bum.

In other words, the Tropicana Field Party Deck wouldn’t be the section of choice for most fans.

But here’s what’s cool about baseball. You still see people sitting in there. There seems to be a sense of belonging here. In the same way that the super-royal-Legendary-Lexus box seats in the newer ballparks give people a sense of belonging to an exclusive club distinguished entirely by income level.

Why pay $500 more to bond with someone, especially if they’re not even into baseball? It is, after all, still a ballgame.

The exclusive and prestigious tbt* Party Deck, now sponsored by GTE Financial. No cell phone dwellers allowed.

I know which group I’d rather hang out with, especially if I’m picking up the tab for my ticket. A smartphone addicted salesman who is still hashing out major deals in the top of the sixth of a one-run game with two men on is not my type of ballgame companion.

College kids could go just about anywhere outdoors in Florida and have a better party atmosphere. People could network anywhere in the Ybor City area in Tampa or somewhere in downtown St. Petersburg. But for whatever reason, they’d rather go to a ballgame and sit miles away from the action in an indoor stadium with artificial turf.

At most ballparks you can find free parking somewhere, if you’re willing to walk at least a half a mile and/or risk getting your car towed. But for Rays games, you need only find three people to carpool with–admittedly a challenge with a team that inexplicably still has trouble drawing fans, but still a viable option.

Who is General Parking?

The Rays list this under “The Rays Go Green”, but apparently they’re most ecology-minded after getting out of church, since this option is only widely available on Sundays, while the rest of the week it’s for the first 100 cars in the lot. The applicable lots are Lots 2, 6, 7, 8 and 9; Lots 6 and 7 are closest to the field and are off of 10th Street west of the ballpark.

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Not a bad deal, unless you’re one of those anti-social tightwad types who goes to the game with other people only so that they’ll chip in on the parking. In that case, there are further lots that charge about half of what the Trop does, but they’re a bit of a hike.

Free parking at Tropicana Field…in an “official” lot!

The best thing is that the “premium game” parking rate is even waived for this—the Rays say “all other games”, so from that I assume that you can even score free parking at Tropicana Field when the Yankees and Red Sox are in town. I probably shouldn’t mention this, since it may have been an oversight on their part. So don’t tell the Rays I told you.

Tropicana Field will never win any best ballpark awards, but it does have some things going for it, and one of them is that a Rays game won’t break your wallet in half. The upper reserved and upper box seats are perfectly reasonable and decent seats at that, and if you’re early enough you can bring some friends and park for free. And you know the game won’t be rained out.

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Like most ballparks, the Tropicana Field food menu is varied and goes well beyond hot dogs and popcorn, but the Trop is unique in that I’ve seen several items lately that I’ve never seen anywhere else…or more correctly, the popular items here aren’t featured much in most other ballparks.

Here are three food items that you could try when you talk about your visit to Tropicana Field; two of them are definitely unique to Tampa Bay baseball, and the Cuban Sandwich is pretty rare elsewhere too.

And if you finish all of these sandwiches, you get a free dessert.

Tropicana Field Food, Tip #1: The Cuban Sandwich. You have several choices of Cuban sandwiches at the Trop; there’s the stand that actually is called “Cuban”, but if you don’t like things too obvious, you can get one at the Bay Grill or at Pipo’s Café. I don’t know if they’re all different, but it seemed to me like the Pipo’s edition was heftier.

The Cuban sandwich is something of a go-to food thing in Florida; it’s ham, pork, and Genoa salami with Swiss cheese, pickles and yellow mustard on bread that is pressed to make the sandwich flat. Gooey Swiss makes any sandwich good.

In addition to the classic, the Cuban stands feature Cuban-style burgers with two patties added to the rest of the ingredients, or a veggie version with grilled vegetables and mozzarella. Remember, gooey cheese.

You’re not staying for dinner? I cleaned out my whole fridge for this!

Tropicana Field Food, Tip #2: Pipo’s Chicken Paella. I picked this one simply because I’ve never seen paella at a ballpark before, and if they’re gonna serve wings and chili, I see no reason why paella wouldn’t be included as a “ballpark food you need to sit at a table to eat”.

Pipo’s Cuban cafeteria joint has been in the Pinellas County area since 1979, so they’re pretty well known around here. At the Trop they offer Cubans, fried plantains, and beef empanadas, but the paella is the standout thing. I tried the empanada and it wasn’t great, but it was easy to eat at least.

In case you didn’t know, chicken paella is a mixture of chicken, rice, peppers and onions, with other meats like sausage and ham. Something like jambalaya but without the Cajun flavoring. A nice filling thing and obviously, something different at a ballpark.

It’s time to go beyond fork and spoon. This thing requires a more advanced utensil.

The menu isn’t nearly as varied at the Trop outpost of Ducky’s located next to the outfield porch, but Ducky’s does have the “West Tampa Bowl” here…marinated pork with sautéed onions in a bowl of brown rice and black beans. All served with plantain chips and mango vinaigrette. Try listing those ingredients when telling people about your ballpark meal.

Ducky’s is also a spot for healthier stuff, incidentally; they have turkey wraps and California salads here too.

There you go…three foods to try at Tropicana Field that you probably won’t find at most ballparks. (I’ve never seen paella anywhere else, anyway.) But there’s also gourmet grilled cheeses, the amazing mac bat, the hefty grilled cheese burger and of course, Chicago-style dogs. Stay tuned.

Hopefully elsewhere on this site I’ve helped you with a few Tropicana Field tips. Worth the trip just to learn how to make your World Series cheesesteak Philly-style, right? Here are a few more things not to miss at your next Rays game:

Because nothing is more baseball than touching slimy fish in the outfield.

Extra Tropicana Field Tips, #1: The Rays Tank. In the ongoing effort to add entertainment value to a ballpark that lacks retro feel value, the Rays collaborated with the Tampa Bay Aquarium to build the Rays tank, a 10,000 gallon tank in right field next to the Everglades BBQ restaurant.

People get in line to touch and feed the cownose rays swimming around happily, and you can watch the game while you’re petting the slimy critters. If that’s not baseball, I don’t know what the heck is.

Time in the area is limited and there is hand cleaner to use afterward. If you’re interested in the Rays Tank, it’s not far from the main rotunda entrance, and you should get in line early because the lines get long.

When the kids get bored, have them count the tiles.

Extra Tropicana Field Tips, #2: The Mosaic Tiles Path. Splitting the parking lots east of the big white dome is a walkway of mosaic tiles, with over a million tiles depicting an aquarium of tropical fish.

It’s captivating anytime, but it is especially cool at night when lit up by the streetlamps above it. And if the Rays pull off a victory, you can have a look at the orange lit dome over the ballpark from outside. A nice two-fer.

Can’t get this view outside of Florida.

Extra Tropicana Field Tips, #3: Cuesta Ray Cigar Bar (And The View). The Cuesta Ray Cigar Bar is a room for cigar smokers, with its own humidor, a billiards table, TVs to watch the game on, lounge sofas and a full bar. A great idea, and it is the only place other than the ramps where smoking of any kind is allowed in the Trop, although there is no view of the game from the room.

But the coolest thing about the Cuesta is the patio outside, in an area where weather is often very nice, and a view of St. Petersburg that is boffo at dusk. If the game isn’t quite holding your attention, it’s a nice place to see a fine view.

That’s a few things to check out at the Trop; be sure you’re getting the best deal on the best seats with this handy little guide.

Why don’t the Rays draw? Despite an AL championship in 2008, a division title in 2010, an exhilarating wild card win in 2011 and a playoff appearance in 2013, the Tampa Bay nine never seem to be playing to a full house, or often even a half-full house.

Even in the last game of the season in 2011, arguably the biggest regular season game in franchise history and with the Yankees in town bringing their own fans, only 27,000 people passed through the gates.

In a division with the Red Sox and Yankees…

The Rays have been playing exciting baseball in recent years, and doing so with a fraction of the payroll (and ticket prices) of the Yankees and Red Sox. Yet they almost never sell out the Trop, and are consistently among the worst in team attendance. It’s a sad indictment of the market, unfortunately, because there’s nothing lacking in the dedication of existing Rays fans. Their TV numbers are as good as most teams.

I’ve read a few things about why the Rays don’t draw well and have my own opinions on it. I think it’s a combination of several factors.

First is the venue. Tropicana Field is not the most baseball-friendly place to see a ballgame. It’s indoors, concrete, has artificial turf and just generally has a sterile feel to it. The Trop is the last non-retractable roof dome in baseball, and it’s one of only two with plastic turf (Rogers Centre in Toronto is the other, and even Rogers may have grass soon). Florida is the Sunshine State…who wants to go where there is no sunshine, for a ballgame of all things?

The sign should include “where most of the fans are”.

Second is the location of the ballpark. The Trop is in St. Petersburg, a fairly good distance through heavy traffic from Tampa, where a good portion of the population center of the market is.

Tampa residents do not particularly like the drive to the ballpark from what I’ve read, which can take a long time during rush hour…which, in theory, is when everyone would be going.

Third is the market in general. Many Florida residents are transplants, and as such are fans of the Yankees, Red Sox, Phillies or another northeast team. The Rays are a relatively new team, and up until 2008 they were perennial cellar-dwellers in the American League East.

While the turnaround has been very impressive, a few competitive years don’t exactly make the Rays a storied franchise, and a local fan base still dedicated to other teams won’t grow so quickly.

Finally, not many people point this out, but no baseball venue in North America has so few options for getting to the ballpark.

It’s so big we have TWO exits!

The Trop is easily accessed by car, but there are few trains or buses to speak of that will take riders to the game on a nightly basis. There are some novelty options like the Brew Bus and Rally Bus, but nothing resembling the Red Line in Chicago or the Broad Street Line in Philly.

On top of that, many will tell you that the drive from Tampa and its suburbs to the Trop is brutal on weeknights.

The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority does currently have bus routes that stop at or near Tropicana Field; it is in the heart of downtown St. Petersburg so that isn’t difficult to do. The problem is that none of the bus routes can be used for night games; most buses have their last run from the area at around 10:30 or so, which might be doable but would certainly preclude seeing extra innings.

So the Rays have all of this going against them, and the last three reasons may have been why baseball was reluctant to encourage the Tampa Bay area government to build a stadium to lure a team back in 1990. They built the then-Suncoast Dome anyway, and were cruelly used as leverage for the Giants and White Sox before baseball awarded them the Devil Rays in 1998.

The big white dome.

So what can the Rays do? Perhaps the Rays could provide such a shuttle of their own for a reasonable fee, which would be much easier to market. (They do from from the nearby pier to add some parking options, but that’s it.)

If the Pinellas County government is in a good mood, they might even create a separate lane for the Rays bus on game nights. It could stop at several locations within the city and suburbs, and be available in case people need to leave early.

Or they could work with the PSTA on providing such a shuttle; they already have routes in place with a long reach in the area.

Then there is the venue. The Rays are rumored to be pushing for a new ballpark; but you never actually hear anything concrete from Rays management. They signed a lease when arriving in Tampa Bay, so presumably they’re at Tropicana Field until 2027. But we all know contracts don’t mean squat when there’s millions to be made for team owners and municipalities.

They should sell tickets for the catwalks.

Could the Rays afford to turn Tropicana Field into a retractable roof dome? I can’t say how hard that would be, but I imagine it could be done. A dome is great in Florida summer heat or the nasty thunderstorms, but no one wants to go inside to watch a ballgame on a beautiful 80-degree April day.

Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago, Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Angel Stadium in Anaheim and Fenway Park in Boston have all undergone significant changes, generally costing less than what a new ballpark would cost. I expect taking the roof off of the Trop would be much harder, but replacing it with a retractable roof and replacing the turf with grass would go a long way to making the Trop a much more appealing venue.

That, however, is a very long shot. The team may convince St. Petersburg to let them out of their lease, and get a new ballpark built in Tampa, but thus far that is a no go with St. Petersburg folks, and rightly so.

Regarding the market and the transplants, the Rays may not need more than a few more years of quality baseball to turn the tables in their favor. After all, if you can see a team capable of beating the Yankees and Red Sox for as little as $9 for a game and park for free, fans have incentive to take their children to the game.

It stands to reason that younger people especially may grow fond of this team over time, especially before they start to travel and see superior ballparks. The Rays’ ticket affordability should help with that…as more parents bring their kids to the game because they can, the Rays may be gradually building a future fan base.

Looks friendly enough, right?

Some cities just don’t do well as a baseball market. Atlanta does well enough, but you would think for all of the team’s success that they would draw better than they do. Miami hasn’t proven it wants a team yet, even with a shiny new retractable-roof ballpark.

There are a few answers to the question of “why don’t the Rays draw”. But I don’t yet accept that the Rays won’t ever fill their ballpark to capacity every night someday. If this team keeps playing competitive baseball and finds a way to bring the far-flung fans in, they may yet turn around their attendance problem.

Do you love to visit ballparks and see live baseball? Subscribe to the Ballpark E-Guides e-mail newsletter today, and fill your scorecard with useful and entertaining info about your favorite ballparks, money-saving “tips of the week” for frugal fans, and of course, specials on the incredibly informative Ballpark E-Guides!

You’ll also score this eBook, listing some of Kurt’s favorite sites for traveling baseball fans, absolutely free of charge…just for stepping up to the plate and subscribing.

Tropicana Field doesn’t often get near the top of most fans’ lists of favorite ballparks. Indoor baseball, which was a novelty for a few minutes after the Astrodome opened, isn’t nearly as popular for a summer pastime as it once was. But I think some props for Tropicana Field are due.

Then there’s that artificial turf that once threatened to take over everywhere when baseball seemed to care far less about tradition (unlike today, he says sarcastically).

But as someone who has enjoyed a few games at Tropicana Field, in the ballpark’s defense I will say that it’s not all bad. In fact, it can be a perfectly nice place to see a ballgame for a few reasons.

The Trop makes you feel welcome.

The Trop has greatly improved in recent years. The Rays have done a lot to fix up the place and make it more appealing for fans, and they deserve a shoutout for that. It has bright blue seats, which blend well with the green turf on the field.

There is the the Porch in Center Field, a party area that replaced the Everglades BBQ, with drink rails and a full bar to watch the game party-style. The upper deck in the left field corner is a separate section called the tbt* Party Deck, and for lousy and mostly empty seats it’s got a neat bleachers feel to it.

The concourses, in this observer’s opinion, are the best in baseball. There’s more entertainment for the kids than I’ve seen in most ballparks, like interactive games, comic book style representations of baseball history, picnic areas, and of course, the Rays Tank…because what’s more baseball than feeding some fish and sliming up your hand in a tank in the outfield? I know that sounds sarcastic, but it really is fun.

Then there’s the huge statue of a Rays player sticking out of the wall to make a catch, appropriate for a defensive minded team and something that has to be seen to be believed.

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If you’re into partying with your baseball, Tropicana is great for that, too. There are plenty of great party areas, like the multi-leveled deck in center field and the 162 Landing and Papa John’s bullpen areas that are decorated accordingly. If you don’t mind the possibility of getting clocked by a foul ball (pay attention!), the view is great and the party is very affordable.

Then there are the cowbells that clang whenever an opposing player has two strikes on him. I don’t care if they are professionals, I know it gets under the skin of some players, which is exactly the point. The cowbells are a uniquely Tampa Bay thing (at least in baseball), and it wouldn’t work as well in an outdoor venue. When there’s a full house (which, granted, is rare), the cowbells can really rock the place.

Who knew all they had to do was drop the “Devil” from their name?

The Rays have even manage to put a good team on the field fairly often, which can override the flaws of any venue. Despite one of the lower payrolls in the game, the Rays have been playing pretty well, contending for an AL East title quite a bit in recent seasons. Not an easy thing to do when sharing a division with the big-spending Yankees and Red Sox.

Best of all, the Trop is an affordable fun for the family deal. Between cheap tickets (no need to spring for great seats for a Rays game), free parking for cars with four or more, and being able to bring in your own food, the kids can have a memorable experience for a fraction of the cost of a day at Disney World, or any major attraction in Orlando, for that matter.

So while Tropicana Field may not score points for great views or neighborhood atmosphere or “retro feel”, in truth there’s no reason a baseball fan can’t enjoy a great day of baseball. One could argue that it’s even unique in its own way these days, with all of the retro-style ballparks across the country. The Trop is something different.

Enjoy it. At least you’re not sweating or ducking out of a thunderstorm. And get the most out of the experience when you read this handy little guide.

Do you love to visit ballparks and see live baseball? Subscribe to the Ballpark E-Guides e-mail newsletter today, and fill your scorecard with useful and entertaining info about your favorite ballparks, money-saving “tips of the week” for frugal fans, and of course, specials on the incredibly informative Ballpark E-Guides!

You’ll also score this eBook, listing some of Kurt’s favorite sites for traveling baseball fans, absolutely free of charge…just for stepping up to the plate and subscribing.